


Rumor Has It

by CatherineParker



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anti-Kane, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Romantic Fluff, Rumors, Tropes, no specific timeframe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-18 21:22:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8176514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatherineParker/pseuds/CatherineParker
Summary: Certain rumors are floating around Arkadia and the people involved have to deal with the consequences of their (non-)actions.or rather, Abby is mortified and Jackson positively delighted.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is made of this.

It is early in the morning and Abby is on her way to a meeting with Kane and a few other members of the former council. And she is late; she hates being late. She rushes through the station, trying to avoid running someone over, who would end up in medical anyway, if she did.

“Way to go, Doctor Griffin!” Jasper calls to her--smirking--as she passes him in one of the winding corridors that have survived the Ark fall, before he is already gone and around the next corner.

“Excuse me?” She calls after him and slows down for a beat, but continues on when she gets no answer or a reappearance.

She can’t make any sense of what he’d said--not even in the slightest. She does not bother to dwell on it much longer, when she steps into the room where the meeting is about to start.

 

* * *

 

There has been a rush of patients to medical all day, the meal of the evening before the cause for it. After the twentieth patient or so with mild to severe stomach pain, Abby is more than glad that she had skipped that particular dessert last night.

Some berries are just not fit for human consumption--or rather their digestive systems have not adjusted to rare earth food just yet. At least they were not poisonous, which the first assumption had been. That once again, someone had skipped to bring new food options to medical first for approval. But the dark red fruit is not the culprit.

Patients come and go until an hour before lunchtime and Abby finally starts on the work she had originally planned for that day.

“Abby,” Jackson slides up next to her very casually, pretending to view the data Abby enters via touchscreen for next month's medical supply run.

He sighs in desperation. “I’m greatly offended."

“Why now?” Abby asks, somewhat amused, not taking her eyes off the screen before her.

“You could have told me.” Jackson angles his body slightly to face her. “I can’t believe you kept it from me the entire time!”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Abby shoots him a quick glance. He doesn’t seem too mad to her.

“That’s so typical. How long have we been working together, Abby? Ten, fifteen years? I thought we were friends who can tell each other at least _that_.”

“You don’t understand, Jackson. I have _literally_  no idea what you are talking about.”

Abby reaches for her cup of coffee that has gone already colder than she would like it to be.

“Well… “ He trails off and Abby takes a sip of the lukewarm beverage, “about you and Raven sleeping together!?”

The coffee sprays everywhere as she spits it out, then starts coughing immediately.

“What?!” She wheezes in between coughs; Jackson pats her back.

“No need to feel embarrassed, Abby. I thought it was bound to happen eventually.”

“What!?” She repeats, beyond incredulous.

Jackson keeps nodding at her.

This is utterly ridiculous. She tells him as much. “This is ridiculous, Jackson! You don’t actually believe that I.. and.. Raven..” Abby shakes her head.

Jackson continues to smile at her supportingly. "You're a perfect match." Abby groans.

“I don’t believe you.” She hisses, turns on her heel and storms off.

She decidedly ignores the sound of a cackle following her until she closes the office door behind her.

 

* * *

 

“Someone called for a mechanic?”

Abby startles at the sound of Raven’s voice, hand flying to her chest. She turns eventually, facing the younger woman who is leaning against the doorframe of her office.

“That rather sounds like the beginning of an adult motion picture.” Abby says, smiling so Raven takes it as teasingly as she means it.

Raven raises a single brow at the comment. “I wouldn’t know about that, Doc.” She says, her smirk unbelievably smug. Abby feels the warmth rise to her face at the unfortunate implication she just made.

“Anyway…” She clears her throat and gestures for Raven to step outside in the main area with her, desperately avoiding to think about the many other implications she'd heard over the last few days involving Raven and herself. “You’re here for the sonographic unit?”

“Actually, I wanted to ask you, if I can take a look at it next week instead? We’re swamped.”

For the first time Abby notices that Raven doesn’t even have her toolbox with her.

When Abby does not immediately answer, Raven hurries on. “I mean.. only if you don't have any pressing physicals the next few days. If you do, I’ll go get my stuff and have it done right away.”

Abby chuckles, reaching out to give Raven's arm a little squeeze. “Relax, it's fine, Raven. Do it next Tuesday.”

“You are the best!” Raven says and pulls her in for an unexpectedly tight and lingering hug.

Before Abby can say anything at all the young mechanic has already let her go, turned and is gone through the open door.

 _What would you’ve said to that anyway?_ Abby wonders absentmindedly as her fingertips trail unconsciously over her still tingling skin.

When she comes out of her rather distracted state and looks up, she meets mirthful eyes from across the room and Jackson gives her an over-the-top thumbs up.

Abby buries her face in her hands.

 

* * *

 

"Raven." Abby acknowledges, as the younger woman stops at her table a few days later during dinner.

"Mind if I join you?" Raven asks and she looks happy and Abby does not have it in her to say no, not even when right now might not be the best time to hang out more than usual.

"Please," Abby gestures to the two empty chairs across from her. She is a little taken aback when Raven slides into the free chair next to her instead.

"So, how is everything Doc?" Raven asks, popping a strawberry into her mouth.

"Fine." Abby says and cringes inwardly. She can easily block out Jackson during the day, and what he and others have said, but with Raven sitting so close next to her, it is all she can think about.

"Nothing unusual." Abby adds, only to say something when Raven keeps looking at her.

"No?" Raven asks and judging by the smirk, she does not believe it.

For a hot second Abby wonders, if Raven _knows_ already. And if she does, what she would make of it. Raven would certainly crack jokes about it all.

Abby worries her lip with her teeth, acknowledging with unease the possibility that it might make the other woman highly uncomfortable. Abby is—after all—not the first or even second logical choice. Being a woman and … _slightly_ older. And Clarke’s mom. No one wants rumors about them … _dating_ their friends mom. Even if she is not sure about much these days, this is certainly the exception.

"That's good I guess.." Raven says, pulling her out of her thoughts. She reaches up to fix her ponytail and if Abby’s eyes follow the movement of her muscles in her arms, it is from an entirely professional point of view.

At least that's what she tells herself and _who is she kidding. She needs to get out of here immediately._

Abby gestures in the vague direction of a wall-clock, she can't positively say still hangs there. "I’m sorry Raven, but I need to rush." She stands.

Maybe all of this unfortunate business will go away before Raven even notices it had been there in the first place.

"So, you and I are hitting it off _so very well_ , I hear." The words curl around Raven’s tongue so suggestively that there is absolutely no mistaking what she is talking about. She blatantly ignores the fact that Abby is already standing and ready to bolt.

_No such luck then._

"Now, sit back down please? Everybody will think we're having our first fight already."

Abby obeys with a dry chuckle, dropping back into her only recently vacated chair. She resists the urge to bury her face in her hands for a second time that week.

"You heard then." Abby says, avoiding Raven’s gaze like the plague.

"I _did_ ," Raven drawls. She does not sound mortified but rather giddy and Abby shoots her an incredulous look.

"What?! Come on Abby, naturally you couldn't do better than me.” Raven smirks so brightly it lights up her entire face. “I'm _obviously_ a catch.”

“Obviously.” Abby agrees good-heartedly, not meeting Raven’s eyes when she says it. She sighs quietly, gaze pointed at the tray in front of her, as the apprehension she felt earlier slowly ebbs away.

Raven leans in to give her a peck on the cheek, probably to cheer her up, but Abby startles at the sudden motion on the edge of her vision and turns to face her. Raven's soft lips land on the corner of her mouth instead, for longer that Abby deems entirely appropriate. Her lips taste sweet like strawberry and Abby has to remind herself to breathe. Raven pulls back slowly, criminally unbothered by it all.

“Well if that doesn't get the last non-believers to the dark side.” Raven adds humorously under her breath, still dangerously close to Abby’s face.

She chuckles at the furious blush creeping up Abby's cheeks. “Why Dr. Griffin,” Raven purrs and the low sound of it makes Abby so dizzy that she can’t even consider the heat pooling deep in her stomach.

“If that makes you blush so hard already, nobody is going to think I’ve gone down on you yet.”

“Raven!” Abby manages to whisper. She aims for chastising, but it sounds more like a croak to her own ears. She forces herself to not actually think about Raven’s implication. She lets out a shallow breath. “Maybe turn it down a notch?!”

Raven grins unapologetically, gathering her tray as she stands from the table. “And deprive everyone of the best gossip since they found lingerie in Chancellor Jaha’s office?”

Raven leans back down, right into her personal space and Abby’s breath catches in the back of her throat. In the periphery of her vision, Abby is aware of the heads turned in their direction, but at the moment she couldn’t care less.

“Not a chance,” Raven whispers, her breath rippling against Abby’s lips. She winks playfully when Abby’s gaze raises from her mouth to her eyes after a moment too long. “See you Tuesday, Doc.”

With that Raven heads out and leaves Abby to wonder whether to get one bottle of moonshine or two.

When she sees Kane staring at her with murder in his eyes, she decides to go for two.

 

* * *

  

“I need to talk to you Abby,” Marcus says, his forehead creased in wrinkles. “Now.”

Marcus catches her before she can make it to her bunk and pulls her into one of the abandoned rooms for some privacy. Abby suspects, it might be a hard thing to accomplish with no door left to close.

“What’s the matter, Marcus?”

“What’s the matter?” He repeats, loud and aggravated, and Abby is unnerved already. A few people pass by the open door and shoot them curious looks. Kane ignores them, as does Abby.

“I never thought you would be into that kind of.. _thing_.”

Of course she knows what he is talking about. Even though it is not true, but he obviously doesn't know that. For whatever reason she wants to defend what she and Raven have--or not have, even if it is no more than an unfortunate misunderstanding. She does not appreciate his tone, the cockiness or his male audacity to judge her. Something inside Abby stirs and rises to the surface at his accusation, pushes uncomfortably tight against her ribcage. Fueled only by the impertinent note in his voice. How he makes it sound like it is something she should be ashamed of.

“Into what?” She asks, her tone sharp and cutting, but Marcus doesn’t even seem to notice.

It reminds her of a Kane who gave the order to float her; determined and prepared to end her life without thinking twice. If Jaha hadn’t come at the time he did, if it had been only ten seconds later, she would be.. Abby pushes the memory back and away, reminding herself that they became friends over time. She had forgiven him eventually, but she can never quite forget. Abby has a few ideas what he is going to say next, but she likes to give Marcus the benefit of doubt.

“Into another woman.” Marcus stares at her uncomprehendingly. “For god's sake Abby, she is only a girl!”

“Then you might not know me as well as you thought,” Abby says coldly, meeting his eyes head on.

Before he can throw himself into a rant that will undoubtedly take up her entire evening and tell her Raven is way too young for her; tell her that she is too old, Abby stops him with a hand in the air.

“But first off, _how dare you?_ Why would you even consider I care about what you think of Raven and I, when you can’t even be glad that I found happiness?”

Abby’s gaze turns icy. "Secondly, but most importantly for you to remember: What I do--and not do--is nothing of your goddamn business, Marcus!”

With that she leaves him standing and rushes finally to her quarters.

She puts the two small flasks clinging in her bag to good, but all-too-fleeing, use.

 

* * *

 

“So I heard some rumors today.” Clarke mentions over lunch in Abby's quarters the next day, spearing a few vegetables onto her fork.

“Really.” Abby acknowledges, reaching for her glass of water to hide the sudden tremor in her fingers. She really does not want to talk about it.

“Something _juicy_ about the head of medical.” Clarke continues unperturbed, as if she was talking about the weather.

“Did you go out with the hunting party today? Didn't see you all day.” Abby deflects and hopes that Clarke takes the bait.

She doesn't. “Heard it was getting _very heated_ …” Clarke trails off, looking at her imploringly.

Abby groans. “Can you let it go?"

"Nope." Clarke grins.

"Well…" Abby is already flustered and she has not even said anything yet; not that there was anything to get flustered over in the first place.

“It's no big deal.” Abby says, trying to figure out how to explain what happened. “It wasn’t really a ...”

She notices how Clarke narrows her eyes at her. “Okay, alright it _might_ have been.. But I did not plan for it to happen in the mess hall in front of all of those people.”

Clarke’s eyebrows lift up slightly. “Mess hall?”

“Yes, I went for dinner last night."

"And you're not mad?" Clarke asks, somewhat irritated.

"Of course not." Abby shakes her head. "It just happened; it is not like it was planned."

"I get that," Clarke says, "but with all those people around it must have been pretty awkward."

"Well," Abby chuckles, relieved how calm and easy Clarke handles the situation, "I have kissed in public places before, Clarke."

" _Kissed_?!" Clarke's eyebrows shoot up to her hairline. "You kissed Kane?"

Abby shakes her head violently, "God no."

"Mom." Clarke's hands curl around the edge of the table as she leans slightly forward and Abby has the suspicion that she just made a huge error in judgment.

"Who kissed you?"

Abby just stares at her daughter, the corners of her lips tugging upwards without her permission. _This is a horrible mess._

"MOM, WHO KISSED YOU IN THE MESS HALL?"

Clarke's face has slightly drained off color and Abby is trying hard not to burst out laughing at the sight of it.

She looks away from Clarke, fiddling with her unused napkin on the table.

"Raven kissed me." She says as calmly as she can, looking back up to meet Clarke's uncomprehending gaze.

" _Raven_?" Clarke squeaks. "Raven Reyes?" As if there was another person named Raven, even when the Ark was still in space--and at full capacity.

Abby just nods.

"I thought it was Kane!"

"Why would you think that?"

"Someone told me you and he had a go at it yesterday!"

And just like that everything comes together. Clarke never meant the incident in the mess hall, but the fight she had with Kane afterward. Abby is not surprised that something like that would spread like wildfire.

"I had a slight alteration with Kane yesterday." She amends. "He was being stupid."

"I don't want to know what happened with Kane now! _Raven_!?"

"It's no big deal, Clarke!" Abby tries to reassure her. "It's just a.." But then there is a knock on the door and Octavia’s head appears in the crack as it opens.

“Clarke, you’re ready? Only then she seems to notice Abby sitting there too. “Hi Mrs. Griffin!” The young woman gives Abby a small wave and Abby smiles at her in return.

“Can you give me ten minutes, O?” Clarke asks, looking pointedly between Abby and herself.

“Not when you want to leave with us today. The others are already at the gate outside.”

“Leave?” Abby asks. “To where?”

“Polis, Mom.” Clarke answers, frowning. "I told you two days ago at dinner?”

“Oh yes, yes it totally slipped my mind. Sorry, darling.”

Clarke slowly stands from the table, taking Abby’s hand and pulls her up and into a hug. “I’ll be back in a week. Lexa and I will bring you something from Polis.”

Abby chuckles. “Just bring yourself back in one piece, that's enough for me.”

Clarke pulls back, but doesn't let go of her arms just yet. “Deal.” She smiles. “But don’t you think I will forget about what you just told me.”

“It was nothing.” Abby fiddles with a hole in Clarke’s sleeve.

“If it were _nothing_ , you wouldn’t be so anxious to talk about it. I know you. I don’t know what it is--or if I even want to know--but it is certainly _something_."

When Abby doesn’t reply--because she really does not know what to say--Clarke hugs her again, briefly but tightly, then let’s her go.

Abby waves at both of them when they finally leave her quarters; all the while wondering, if Raven feels that _something_ too.

 

* * *

 

"But how did this even start?" Abby asks, not Raven in particular, but when the other woman looks decidedly away, Abby gets suspicious.

It is already late in the evening and Abby's shift has ended more than two hours ago. The ultrasound scanner is humming and scanning again and Raven puts the last of her tools back into the box.

"Raven."

She reaches out and turns Raven's face back to her, fingers holding slightly onto her chin. Raven sighs and Abby is memorized how soft and warm the skin feels beneath her fingertips, before she drops her hand back into her lap.

"Tell me."

They are sitting on the floor, Abby had joined Raven with two beers after her shift had ended and did not want to leave her in medical all by herself. She can imagine what Jackson would've had to say about it, but Abby made sure he had gone already. There is only so much teasing she can take in a day.

"You remember when one of the oxygen tanks blew in the workshop last week?" Abby nods and Raven continues. "You also remember when you kind of ended up on top of me?"

"I never lay on top of you!" Abby is more than a little horrified that someone would take her medical professionalism as something else. "You had lost consciousness for far longer than you should have and I was checking your vitals!"

Raven makes a dismissive gesture. "Yeah, yeah I _know_ that!"

"Then what?"

"Well, you know Murphy was there too, right?" Abby only nods.

"He never lost consciousness and was just thrown through the room, the bastard." Raven growls. "But he was still lingering around after you left. "And he said, that we two looked very.. cosy together."

"Okay, that's it?" Abby asks carefully.

Raven swallows, looking away from Abby's searching gaze. "Not quite."

"I don't know, I was kind of mad because of all the damage, maybe even still a little dizzy and I snapped."

"So you said.. " Abby trails off.

"I said that, yeah--we are…" And there Raven hesitates, eyes flickering away and back to her own. Abby holds her breath. "We are having.. _intercourse_."

Raven says it so stoically that Abby bursts out laughing. "You did not say that."

"No, I didn't." Raven relents quickly, her smile bright. Abby is so relieved Raven did in fact not implicate… "I told him we are banging."

Abby's shock must play out on her features, so easily to read, that Raven watches her with growing apprehension. Abby’s gaze drops to her lips when Raven bites down on the lower one and Abby is suddenly overcome with the desire to suck it into her own mouth, to feel the soft flesh give between her teeth.

"You're mad?" Raven asks quietly after a moment, and Abby comes out of it quickly, trying to think back to their conversation.

"No." She chuckles, sliding a hand through her hair and notices how Raven's eyes follow the movement. It makes her somehow desperate to know what Raven is thinking about. "You believe he told someone?"

Raven considers it for a moment, then shakes her head. "Nah, not really. I mean, I just don't think he cares enough to do it. But we could have been easily overheard. The space was crowded."

"I see." Abby murmurs, catching Raven's gaze once more. "No one I can infect with a horrible stomach virus then."

Raven's eyes go wide in mock shock, "Doctor Griffin, I didn’t think you had it in you!”

Abby laughs and swats her hand against Raven's shoulder in equal mock offense. She is not at all prepared for Raven to catch her hand in her own, fingers sliding slowly over her wrist and the inside of her palm. The contact has her breath stutter like a broken engine in her chest.

"Hey." Raven whispers, her eyes shining dark and fervent as she leans closer ever so slowly until her lips touch to Abby's.

This is not _nothing_ , Abby acquiesces, distracted by the sudden rush of adrenaline surging through her.

Raven's kiss is soft and entirely unhurried and something seizes in Abby's chest at way Raven’s lips slide unceremoniously against her own, nipping and teasing.

"What are you doing?" Abby whispers in between the meeting of their lips and she is not resisting the undeniable pull Raven has over her. They should talk about this before it escalates further than it already has, Abby _knows_ that, but she can't pull away from the soft skin beneath her own. Can't make herself lose the connection.

Raven sucks her lower lip into her mouth, stroking it with her tongue before she bites down lightly and Abby can't help the desperate noise in her throat as it slips free.

"What I should have done in the mess hall." Raven says and it sounds breathy and so full of need that Abby shivers at the sound of it. Raven’s arms slide around her body—pulling her in—until they press close together.

"You actually kind of did." Abby breaths between kisses and she is not entirely certain how she still forms coherent sentences.

"I did, didn't I?"

The way she says it makes Abby wonder, if that was her plan all along, but then Raven pulls her in once more and kisses her so reverently that she has to hold onto Raven’s arms to keep herself from drowning.

Her hands slide up to cup Raven’s cheeks as she settles herself on top, because she needs to be closer. Craves it so desperately that she does not even think about it twice.

Abby's thighs press tightly against each side of Raven’s own and then there are hands sliding over her legs and her backside, exploring and squeezing, pushing them ultimately closer together.

There's a moment when they break apart as Abby sits down and they end up staring at each other, exhaling short and shallow breaths into the air. Abby lets her fingers slide over Raven’s face, more brushing over than actually touching. She feels Raven tremble beneath her at the touch and Abby studies her face attentively. The dark blown eyes and kiss-swollen lips, and all she can think about is, that _she_ did this. How she wants to do it again—and again.

Abby leans down deliberately, holding Raven’s penetrating gaze that leaves her feeling naked and at the same time so full of life. Her lips brush against Raven’s and Raven surges up to meet her hungrily with a rumbling groan. The sound has heat pool in the pit of her stomach so raw and violently that she grinds herself down into the warm body beneath her. Raven curses " _Jesus_ " under her breath and slips her tongue finally into Abby’s mouth.

As her heart begins to thump madly in her chest, Abby accepts it at last, feeling drunk and unfathomably whole for the first time in years.

This is definitely _something_.

**Author's Note:**

> (Any Feedback is -as always- very much appreciated!)


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